Relief by Georg Varhely (English) by kultivera

Georg Varhely, Relief
The City Hotel of Tranås opens in 1962 and the architect is Georg Varhely. He is born in Hungary 1913 and studies architecture in Czechoslovakia. By the outbreak of the Second World War he comes to Sweden as a refugee. During the 50’s and 60’s he is an important architect in Sweden but not many people have heard of him today. He lives in Stockholm and draws several residential areas there, for example Gubbängen, Hökarängen, Högdalen, Bagarmossen, Bergshamra and Aspudden. 1957 he builds a tower block in Solna with 17 floors, for a long time it was the highest building in Scandinavia. Georg wants to work and live there but his wife is scared of heights and doesn’t want to live there with their kids. The house is described as a big artwork by the inhabitants because the apartments overlap and many flats have several floors and a very high ceiling.
Georg starts to draw hotels in the end of the 40’s and his most famous one is “Hotell Malmen” from 1951. The hotel gets a lot of attention because of its elegance and modernistic style. After that Georg draws many hotels and other public buildings. In Bergshamra he also builds a church, it is done the same year as The City Hotel of Tranås, 1962. The church is made of concrete and the intention was to make a church without any unnecessary decorations. Because of the lack of ornaments and the choice of building material the church is sometimes called “Sankta Cementa”, referring to the Swedish word for concrete. Georg Varhelyi has a great impact on Swedish architecture from the beginning of the 50’s until the 90’s. He dies on the 1 of December 2001, 88 years old.
If it is Georg Varhelyi that also has made this relief is uncertain but it is probably him or someone who worked close by him. It is known that he liked to put his personal trade mark on the exterior and often made that “little extra”. His children can assure that he was really good at drawing. He also was very inspired by the artist Picasso and the cubistic style of the relief seems to be inspired by him. There is also a picture of a bull and it is known that Picasso liked bullfights. But if it really is Georg who made this relief is still a clue…